A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from ending humanitarian protections granted to Venezuelans residing in the United States. This decision prevents approximately 350,000 Venezuelan nationals from losing their work authorization and protection from deportation as early as next week.
In an order issued on Monday, the court suspended the expiration of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), originally set for April 7, granting beneficiaries a reprieve to continue their legal challenge.
This lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, challenges the directive of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem, who revoked the TPS extension for Venezuelans shortly after taking office. This decision came just days after her predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, had extended these protections until October 2026, covering approximately 600,000 people.
Under the Trump administration, TPS was justified by the ongoing economic and political instability in Venezuela under the authoritarian regime of Nicolás Maduro. However, Noem argued that current conditions no longer warranted the protection.
In his ruling, the judge questioned the Trump administration’s decision, suggesting that it might be driven by discriminatory motives. “This has undertones of racism,” he stated, according to The Washington Post.
Meanwhile, other legal challenges have been filed in various U.S. jurisdictions against similar actions by the Trump administration, including the termination of the humanitarian parole program commonly known as the “Biden program.”
On April 7, a federal judge in the District of Boston, Judge Indira Talwani, will hold a hearing on a lawsuit brought by 18 states and the District of Columbia against the federal administration, which seeks to deport more than 530,000 immigrants who legally entered the U.S. under the Biden program.
During the first hearing last week, Judge Talwani hinted—through her questions to federal government attorneys—that she may rule in favor of the program’s beneficiaries.
This judicial suspension offers a temporary reprieve for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the U.S., but the legal battle over TPS is far from over.
